After being introduced to a massive 20 subject syllabi, we were awestruck. But it was more of an astonishment than the pressure to perform well. In the Begining we were asked to choose some subject of our choice and start preparing comprehensively.It all looked the same, atleast for me. I chose Computer Networks. I could have very well chosen any other subject over Networks. But this choice so happened to be the best one i have ever made. This happens to be the only subject,of all, that captures my interest.
I picked up Computer Networks by Andrew S Tanenbaum, started reading it on a regular basis. Sometimes addicted, i could simply not leave the book alone. It was informative, humorous and interesting. I could finish most parts of the book within a week. And too much of anything, as u know, is good for nothing. I litterally dragged on with the book throughout the next week.
Now came the group meeting when we teach each other the topics learnt in the past week. As karthik started his preparation early, most of these meetings were dominated by him, not surprising though. Just to give a background, I was the first in the group to have ever touched the Networks Book with an aim to solve the questions asked in GATE. Everyone explained the topics that they had learnt the previous week. Their teaching was good enough that we were able to solve some problems asked in GATE, just immediately after. When my turn came, i was able to express in mere words what i had learnt. Though not inherently good at explaining things, i managed to just scrape through. When the topic shifted to solving some network problems to end the discussion over, we tried solving some previous years questions. Most of the problems in networks (if u have prepared for GATE, u would know) had a huge description and took almost an entire minute to just finish reading the question, leave alone the understanding part of it. These problems always scared the hell out of us that we leave such questions almost always in the initial mock tests. Coming back to the narrative, from all that i had learnt the previous week, i could not even solve one problem. Disappointed, we closed the session that day.
Though depressing at times, the desire to succeed somehow drove us to pitch in a lot of hardwork. We just managed to get good scores in the mock tests entirely relying on the basic subjects like Digital Logic, Basic computer architecture, Data Structures, Algorithms etc. We realised that further progress could not be made unless we master atleast a few more subjects. With semester exams coming in between, it became all the more difficult to balance GATE preparation and the college curriculum. Flunking atleast 3 subjects in each model semester exams, we had to write RE-TESTS, and of course the RE-RE-Tests in case we failed in the Re-test. This process continued until days before the start of the semester exams. No wonder why our college tops the Pass Percentage list, among the 250 Engg colleges in the state.
By the end of the 5th semester, the aggregate percentage had downcurved. From a constant 86%. It was dipping below 84. When we took the issue with karthik, he had a happy news for us. He said he made a good 76% in his 7th semester. It was a great relief for us. Atleast we understood that some trade-offs need to be made between the two. The significant landmarks achieved in this period were
- Me finishing Computer Networks, solving almost all problems.
- Anish Mastering Theoretical subjects
- Pawan Mastering Computer Architecture.
- Karthik consistently getting within AIR10 in mock tests.
- Succesfully converting Anish(who used to sleep at 9PM sharp) into a nocturnal, just like us.
LAST MONTH PREPARATION
With just one month left out, we had to speed up the preparation. In this period, we left karthik on his own and struck to the plans he had made. After all we knew this was his serious Game (ALL-REALS, not TRIALS(if u know the street cricket slang)).[sorry about using recursive constructs]. He had to sandwich the learning schdeule for computer networks and a few other subjects. Though it went on well, it resulted in a Burn-out. He almost didnt touch his book for the last 10 days. According to me, the last month preparation is very crucial and missing out on it is a game lost. Also there is the TIME factor. U never know what happens in the 3 hrs of the exam. The Preparation Time lost by you is the mark gained by the others by utilizing that time. So it is always better to finish with the basic preparation early and keep revising the same in the last month.
Taking into account all the mistakes that we committed, and we thought we had committed, and of course a lot of feedbacks from Karthik, we were able to refine the plan and implement them in our 2009 preparation.
GATE 2008 ended well with karthik making AIR242. The highest in cs dept that year. Also getting almost 4 admits across india in most IITs and IISc. It was a good experience for us helping us perfect our plans for the next year.
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